Reunion
by G3rain1
Summary: What happens when the one you love is gone and you come across someone exactly like them? Attempts to explain why Aeris is mysteriously alive in Kingdom Hearts when she died in FFVII. Cloud x Aeris.


_I always wondered in Kingdom Hearts why Aeris was mysteriously alive again, it was never explained. So I got the idea if there are all these other worlds, maybe threes a world that's not the FF7 world we all know but one that's similar with similar people. What would happen if Cloud was from the original FF7 universe but Aeris was from this AU._

_You may notice that this is very similar to my other story 'Saying Goodbye' That's because they were written at the same time and based off the same idea. I couldn't decide how I wanted to execute that Idea so I just wrote it both ways._

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Cid opened the door to the library where the rest of the group was hanging out. "Hey everyone, look who it is." he announced as he entered the room. His companion, the golden haired ex-SOLDIER, entered behind him.

"Cloud!" They exclaimed in unison.

"Hey sorry I've been..." he stopped mid sentence when he saw her. Couldn't be. But it was. "Ae-...Aeris?"

"Mm-hmm." she walked up to him put her hands behind her and leaned forward getting right in his face and smiled at him. "So, just where have you been all this time, hmm."

"Where have I..." He looked dazed.

"Yeah, I want to know that too." Squall said sounding irritated. Cloud merely glanced at him not knowing who he was.

"I...what is... what's going on here. Aeris... are you real, am I hallucinating you again?"

"Of course I'm real." She said innocently.

"Yeah. What kind ok question is that? Dummy!" said Yuffie.

"Aeris, how... how is this possible?" Cloud continued

"How is what?"

"You're...alive... how? You're supposed to be dead..."

"What!" the group responded in shock.

"...you died ... I saw..." Cloud rambled on.

"Cloud, don't say such awful things!" Yuffie scolded.

"...but...Sephiroth he..."

"Sepha-what?" Cid asked confused.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud look at him desperately. "You know Sephiroth! The guy who almost destroyed the planet."

They all looked at him with blank confused stares. He turned back to Aeris, she shook her head at him, yet tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Cloud, I... that never happened... I didn't die. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I... you..." he looked around to each one of them then back to her "...you're not...I... Sorry, I thought you were someone else." He then promptly turned and left.

"What was all that?" Yuffie asked.

"Cid, where'd you find him?" said Squall.

"Wanderin' around Travers Town, he seemed fine on the trip over here."

"Well maybe he hit his head when you landed that Gumi ship. I told you, you fly to rough!" Yuffie yelled at him.

"There aint nothing wrong with my flyin'!"

"Other than it makes me sick!"

"You'd get sick goin' down the stairs."

"Whatever." Squall muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes as they continued to bicker. None of them noticed Aeris as she left the room.

--x--

Cloud sat on the edge of the edge of one of the many balconies of Hollow Bastion, over looking the slowly reforming world. 'Looks like that kid actually did it.' Not that he cared. His world would never come back, his world was taken not by the Heartless, but by another without a heart. She was taken from him so suddenly, so violently... He sighed. "Aeris..."

"Doppelganger." Her voice came from behind. He cringed, it was her voice, but it wasn't her. It was the fake, the imitation.

"What?"

"Its something I read while going over Ansem's research into other worlds. With an infinite number of worlds out there, there are some that are nearly identical to each other, save a few small details. He theorized there may even be doubles of people. He used the term doppelganger." She approached and sat beside him.

"Oh..."

"I'm not the Aeris you knew and you're not Cloud I knew. We're... from different worlds."

"Yeah... I figured that..." He sounded annoyed.

"My Cloud disappeared about a year before the Heartless came, no one knows what happened... So when we met just now, I... thought you were him... So... you made the same mistake."

"Yeah..."

"Hmm..." She was silent for a bit, apparently thinking on something. "So tell me about her."

"There's nothing to tell... Go look in a mirror." he said, irritated.

"You had feelings for her?" She asked though it was more a statement than a question.

"Yeah."

"You... loved her?" Again not really a question.

"Yeah."

"...and she died."

"She was murdered, right in front of me!" He said angrily.

"I'm very sorry."

"What for? Its not like you were the one that stabbed her."

"Cloud..." She sighed "Do you want to talk about it. It helps sometimes to get it all..."

"Do you know what you're doing to me!" he snapped.

"Sorry?"

"You're not her!"

"I know that..."

"But you're just like her in every way."

"..." she looked questioningly at him.

"You look the same; your face is the same, the way you wear your hair, you dress similar, your body language, gestures and mannerisms are all the same. You sound like her; your voice, the way you speak, the inflection you put on words, the things you say... You...You even smell like her... like flowers... like lilies." He swallowed the lump in his throat "But...you're not her. You can't be! SHE'S DEAD!" He finally turned to face her, his face contorted from the pain. He held his hands up in front of himself, staring at them. "I... I held her lifeless body in my arms... I put her in her grave! So...You can't be her... You're just... an imitation, a walking reminder."

She quietly stood and took a step back. "I'm sorry. I'll go now, I didn't mean to cause you any pain. I'll leave you alone from now on." She turned and started to walk away.

'Alone?' He grabbed her by the wrist before she got out of reach. "Don't go... I'm sorry... I don't want to be alone... I don't want to be alone anymore." He was trembling.

She sat back down beside him as he again stared out over the world, not looking at her. As she studied his face she saw tears form in his eyes and eventually run down his cheek. She hesitantly reached out to wipe it away, but paused before she did, considering whether she should or not. When she final did, he turned to her surprised, looking lost and confused. She gave him a smile and that was all for him; he broke down sobbing uncontrollably. She pulled him to her and embraced him and he immediately hugged her back and held tight.

"Oh god, Aeris, I missed you... I missed you so much!"

"Shhh, it's alright. I'm here now. It's ok, it'll all be ok."

"I love you..."

"Y-Yeah, I know. I know you do." She would allow him this moment; allow him to pretend, for now.

Cloud held her tight, he couldn't believe this, it was like a dream, he was finally able to hold her once again. It was like some vital piece of him long missing had been returned; like he could finally breathe again after being held under water for to long. With every breath he caught the sent of her hair, its sweet flowery aroma drove him mad. He squeezed her tighter and buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing endlessly. Yet in the back of his mind he knew; the little voice kept whispering, 'This isn't real. It's not her'.

Aeris held him for a long while as he cried. She felt sorry for him, such pain he was enduring. She couldn't stand seeing him like that, and had such a strong desire to comfort him. She could empathize with him as she felt the loss of someone dear to her too. She replayed his words, 'I missed you... I love you...' pretending briefly she was holding her Cloud. How she longed to hear him say that... This feeling was very conflicting. Its very comforting being with the one you lost, and for a moment you may even believe you have them back. But you still know it's not really them, though they are a very strong and painful reminder of what you lost. She envisioned the two conflicting emotions feeding off each other and forming a cycle that would spiral out of control. Is that what Cloud was going through now? He had been crying for a very long time now and she imagined he was. She had to do something to break him out of it...

"Cloud..." She took him by the chin, tilted his head up and kissed him.

"Wha- What are you doing?" He said completely shocked.

"That... was from her."

"What?"

"If she were here... it's what she would have done. She wouldn't want you to suffer anymore, not because of her." He stared at her with tear blurred vision, sniffling. "I... don't want to see you suffer either," she added.

"umm... thanks..." He said then wiped his sleeve across his face. She smiled at him and caressed his face. Her eyes met his and she gazed into them. She could see in him all the qualities she adored in her missing love. Then she did something she hadn't planed on. She then kissed him again, deeper and much longer this time. Afterwards he stared at her confused.

"That was... from me."

"But... why..."

"Because... I... I just wanted to kiss you."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Hmm... but... I don't know about that..."

"Why not?"

"You-...you're... not her."

"I won't try to be, I'll just be myself, and nothing more. You can accept me for me, right?"

"But... I loved her...and... you're not..."

"Is that it? You're saying you can never love anyone else ever again?"

"I... no."

"Well if I'm so much like her then... couldn't you in time come to love me too?"

"I...don't know"

"It's alright. Can you at least... give it a chance?"

He pondered for a bit over what she was suggesting "Mmm..." he nodded and managed a smile, then rested his head against her "You know we've technically only just met."

"I know, aren't we lucky!" she said cheerfully. "We know right from the start what the other person is like. All the getting to know each other and uncertainty that comes with it... we can skip all that and go right to just being together. Most couples don't get such insight."

"Couple...?"

"Yep. That ok with you?"

"Y-Yeah. ...but there's still... uncertainty."

"Of a different kind, yes. This is... unusual. But... I believe we'll be alright."

"I...believe too."

"There just one thing..." Her tone became a lot more serious "I want you to promise... the next time you say 'I love you' to me, I want you to say it ME. Alright?"

"Uh- yeah... I promise... and... sorry for that."

"That's alright. When you said those words...I was pretending too."

"That... that I was him, the other Cloud... the one you knew."

"Yeah. But no more of that... for either of us."

"Hmm..." he nodded "So... what now."

She put her arm around his shoulders pulling him closer. "Now... let's just watch this world come to life again." She said and so they sat together look out over the world as it slowly took shape and expanded, returning to what it once was. "As for tomorrow... we can worry about that tomorrow."

End.

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Characters owned by Square Enix, not me. Don't sue, I have no money to begin with.

If you want to contact me do so here: G3Rain1 at Gmail com


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